Tonia Watson, in Judge Collen O'Brien's Oakland County Circuit courtroom to testify against Alan Wood, for the murder of Nancy Dailey in Royal Oak. Monday, January 14, 2013. The Oakland Press/TIM THOMPSON

Alan Wood in Judge Collen O'Brien's Oakland County Circuit courtroom for the murder of Nancy Dailey in Royal Oak. Monday, January 14, 2013. The Oakland Press/TIM THOMPSON

The events of Nov. 20, 2011, went by in a flash for Tonia Watson.

Watson -- the woman who was with Alan Wood when he allegedly killed 80-year-old Nancy Dailey -- took the stand in Wood's murder trial Monday afternoon.

"Everything happened so fast," Watson said while testifying in front of Oakland County Circuit Judge Colleen O'Brien. She uttered the phrase several more times during her interview with police shortly after she was arrested. Jurors viewed video of that interview after Watson's testimony concluded.

Watson, 41, said she and Wood were out of money and homeless on Nov. 20, 2011. After spending the entire day at a Royal Oak McDonald's, they decided to rob Dailey, who they had raked leaves for just days earlier.

"We were homeless," Watson said.

"We had no money, on drugs. I made a bad, bad mistake."

Watson said she didn't know that anything other than a robbery would occur that day.

As darkness set in that evening, Wood entered an unlocked door and told Dailey that she was being robbed.

"She got scared and started to cry," Watson said.

Eventually, Dailey said she had to go to the bathroom. Watson stood watch and said "Hon, will you please just give him the numbers to the ATM cards?"

Dailey, who doubled the $20 that Wood and Watson asked for to rake Dailey's leaves just days earlier, called the pair "dirty birds."

When she tried to shut the bathroom door, Watson alerted Wood.

"Baby, she's trying to shut the door on me," Watson shouted.

That prompted Wood to grab Dailey, punch her in the face, throw her to the ground and stomp on her "four, five, maybe six times," Watson said.

Wood then tried to twist Dailey's neck.

Watson was not looking when Wood tied Dailey up with a scarf, but she did see Dailey tied up.

Wood later pulled a knife from his pocket and showed Watson. Without Watson, Wood went back to the bedroom for about 90 seconds and returned.

"He had told me that he had never cut an old lady's throat before and he had to cut it twice," Watson said, prompting gasps from Dailey's friends and family in attendance.

Watson said she didn't try to stop the attack because she was afraid Wood would kill her.

Wood had obtained Dailey's car keys and the pair tried to steal her vehicle, but the car would not start. They went to take a bus on Woodward, but Wood realized he forgot to retrieve his scarf that he used to tie Dailey up. He went back in an attempt to retrieve the scarf, but Watson had locked the door, and Wood was unable to re-enter the home.

The pair got a room at the Seville Motel on Woodward and later bought $150 worth of cocaine and heroin in Pontiac.

Watson consumed both drugs, while Wood stuck to cocaine. Wood then decided to return to Dailey's Trafford Road home.

"He called me and told me to get out of the room, that (Dailey's house) was lit up like a Christmas tree (with police cars)."

The pair then went to the De Lido Motel in Detroit and watched the news, where they saw a report about Dailey's death.

Wood and Watson bought more drugs in Detroit's Cass Corridor and then headed to Canton. They went to Meijer, in part to find another elderly woman to rob.

"The plan was to pick her up, rob her and take her vehicle," Watson said.

Before the plan could come to fruition, police arrested both suspects.

Despite threats from Wood, who once told Watson that he would cut her head off if she spoke with police, Watson shared several details with investigators during an interview that day.

"Something was just on my soul that I needed to get out," she said Monday.

"I knew what we did was wrong. I needed to tell someone."

During cross-examination, defense attorney Elias Escobedo tried to paint Watson as a drug-addicted thief and scam artist with a mental illness who was not taking her medicine in the days leading up to the attack.

Watson had been taking medication for depression and a mood disorder since 2004, but she stopped taking them about a month before Dailey's death.

She also said she spent about $200 per day on illicit drugs when she had the money, splitting it between heroin and cocaine.

"There were times ... when using the drugs that I would become scared or paranoid," she said.

"Things are happening so fast," Escobedo said.

"You're strung out on heroin. You're not taking your meds."

Escobedo also asked Watson about the plea deal she received, in which she agreed to testify against Wood in exchange for a lesser charge of second-degree murder. Watson, like Wood, was initially charged with first-degree felony murder.

"In your deal with the devil, you only get 23 years in prison," Escobedo said.

Watson said the sentence "might as well be life for me. I'm 41 years old."

Escobedo also asked Watson about her feelings for Wood. Watson believed Wood was exchanging sex for money with a pair of disabled Royal Oak women, as well as a Berkley family. He had been performing odd jobs at both homes.

"Things like that happen in the world today," Watson said.

Watson said she was jealous and obsessed with Wood, and she said she still loves him and thought that the feelings were mutual.

"He was just my everything," she said.

"He was all that I knew."

Watson said she is now a recovering drug addict. Escobedo asked if she sees the light only because she's incarcerated.

"I've seen the light a long time ago, but Tonia just kept making mistakes," she said.

After a day off Tuesday, jurors will return at 1 p.m. Wednesday to finish viewing Watson's police interview. The prosecution is expected to rest sometime Wednesday afternoon, while the defense will likely begin calling witnesses Thursday morning.